The following pursuits are necessary in order to best support the goal of assessment equity:
Need to continually build student background knowledge.
Advocate for tests that provide differentiated scores based on prior knowledge of content.
Teach American idioms throughout the school year. A great website for American idioms is http://www.idiomsite.com/
All assessments should be conducted in the dominant language and English unless English is the dominant language. If English is marginally the dominant language then both the native language and English should be assessed.
The evaluator(s) should be knowledgeable regarding cultural and linguistic differences.
School districts should actively strive to provide a dual language assessment conducted by a bilingual examiner fluent in English and the student’s native language. Language should not be considered disordered if the linguistic differences can be attributed to: Environmental issues, Cultural issues and Economic disadvantage.
Translate directions or administration procedure on non-verbal standardized tests.
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